Sherman Douglas, who signed a contract earlier in the day, made
a key fourth-quarter basket as the New Jersey Nets overcame a
13-point deficit to defeat the Indiana Pacers, 97-95, spoiling
the coaching debut of Larry Bird.

Douglas, with his fourth team in the last five weeks, sank an
19-footer to give the Nets the lead for good, 92-90, with 2:58
left.

"I was pretty sure I wouldn't play that much," said Douglas, who
played 19 minutes. "Sam (Cassell) ran into foul trouble. We
wanted to get off to a good start and this win gets us off to a
good start. I knew three, four plays, plus whatever coach was
drawing up in the huddle."

The Nets were without their last two first-round draft picks,
Kerry Kittles and Keith Van Horn. Kittles has an ankle injury
and could return Saturday against Milwaukee. But Van Horn, the
second pick overall, is out three to four weeks with a sprained
right ankle.

"That was a good win," Nets coach John Calipari said. "We're
trying right now to plug holes, were still out of sync. I was
really pleased with Sherman Douglas. He reminded me a lot of
Jim Jackson."

Kendall Gill scored 20 points for New Jersey, despite sitting
out the final five minutes with twisted left ankle. Jayson
Williams tallied 18 points and 20 rebounds and Cassell had 18
and eight assists for New Jersey, which lost its first five
games last season.

Reggie Miller scored 35 points and Rik Smits added 18 for the
Pacers, who last season missed the playoffs for the first time
since 1989. Dale Davis recorded 10 points and 17 rebounds.

"You'd like to go home with a victory but you have to play four
quarters to play in this league," said Bird. "We lost the game
in the third quarter. The home team comes back, the crowd gets
going and then it's tough to stop that momentum. I hate to lose
more than I like to win."

Cassell made a pair of free throws to increase New Jersey's lead
to 94-90 with 1:41 remaining. After Miller turned the ball
over, Williams made one free throw for a 95-90 margin with 1:11
to go. Smits answered with a 13-footer to cut the deficit to
95-92 with one minute left. Douglas missed an 18-footer from
the left wing but Williams grabbed the rebound and scored to
give the Nets a 97-92 advantage with 38 seconds left.

Miller's three-pointer, a bank shot from beyond the top of the
key, cut New Jersey's lead to 97-95 with 35 seconds remaining.
Cassell's three-point attempt hit off the front of the rim,
giving Indiana a chance to tie the game.

Chris Mullin's baseline jumper was in and out but Smits grabbed
the rebound and was fouled by Cassell with four-tenths of a
second left. Smits' first free throw hit the front and back of
the rim before falling out. After a timeout, Smits
intentionally missed the second free throw, but the rebound was
tipped out of bounds as time expired.

"The first thing we said in the locker room was that it
shouldn't have come down to the free throws," said Smits.

"I knew he wasn't going to make that free throw," Williams said.
"I was talking trash the whole time."

Miller scored 22 points in the first half as the Pacers held a
57-48 lead at the intermission. Indiana took its biggest lead,
71-58, on a tip-in by Davis with 5:15 left in the third quarter.

Gill's driving dunk triggered a 17-3 burst and cut the deficit
to 73-62 with 4:18 to go in the period. Yinka Dare's two free
throws capped the run and gave the Nets their first lead since
the first quarter at 77-76 with nine seconds to go.

"We lost the game in the third quarter," Miller said. "You
can't let a team like that hang around, especially at home."

The game was tied six times in the fourth quarter before the
19-footer by Douglas.